Tag: Parenting

My daughter is without doubt, the biggest challenge of my life so far. I love her dearly - each and every part of her that makes her ... well, ... her. But boy oh boy is my intelligent, highly emotional, stroppy, strong-willed girl a challenge to every bit of patience that I have. She was the… Continue reading Beautiful Heart

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Yesterday someone pointed something out to me. Something really important. Something that I thought was a slightly funny but inconsequential moment, was actually potentially significant. Bear with me... Yesterday on the school run I had fractious kids - I blame Monday! I was pre-coffee and not really up for the noise levels that six kids, mostly boys, can produce (I also pick… Continue reading Making memories

Yesterday I was going to post an update on Nat after her hideous time last year being bullied, and how bullying is out of our lives. Sadly, bullying is not out of our lives. So yesterday I posted an update on Nat (yay, it's a happy story!) and now the stuff I'm not so happy… Continue reading Not the last bullying post (Part 2)

Background: For those of you who weren’t with me last year, we had quite the saga with our youngest child, Nat, being bullied at school. Long story short, she’s now at a different school. If you want to read the back story, you can read Bullying Sucks, and Bullying Still Sucks. Here I was, all… Continue reading Not the last bullying post (Part One)

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Have you ever noticed you were watching something on TV that you weren't really interested in ... but there wasn't anything else on? Or you get to bed only to think you'll just check your Facebook page ... one ... more ... time? Or get sick of the kids fighting over who has had a longer… Continue reading Our technology take down

Regular readers of Abbie's Babble might be aware of our struggles this year with bullying (my seven-year old daughter has been bullied over the last few months). Unfortunately, things have hit an all-time low and I felt forced to remove my girl from school for the rest of the year (our school year finishes in 10… Continue reading Bullying still sucks

Over the weekend I had a great chat with my daughter, quite possibly, the best so far. We had a two-hour road trip and we talked. And we talked. The. whole. time. I can't speak for Nat, but for me, that was so good for my soul. I feel like we totally connected and were both… Continue reading When being yourself equals trouble

I'm really starting to annoy myself. Do you constantly find yourself checking for new activity on your blogs, tweetbooks, facetags, instapins and hashmails? 😉 I do. I can hardly wander past my phone without checking the notifications some days. If I'm sitting "watching" the kids at sport, you'll probably find me on my screen a lot. Over at… Continue reading Just put the screen down

While super-glue is one potential way to bond a family together, as parents, we firmly believe it's our job to come up with ways to create a lasting bond between our brood. This is especially important in a blended family context. As our family grows and they eventually leave home, we want the kids to want to come back… Continue reading Making Memories

This is one of my all-time favourite quotes. I've done this today for my daughter who is having challenges at school with a bully. It's hurting her self-esteem in a big way so we're really trying to affirm at home that each one of our children is special, wonderful and amazing in their own way. And as the… Continue reading Scripted Sunday: Youer than you

Last Monday I let my employer know I would not be accepting their offer to extend my contract to the end of 2015. And it felt great! Why would I give away a perfectly good job you may ask? A job that wasn't unpleasant, that offered good hours allowing me to drop my kids to… Continue reading On the happiness trail … why I quit my job

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I never thought that my daughter would be bullied. She's feisty and confident. She'd stand up to someone twice her age and size ... or so I thought. But I was wrong because at the moment another seven-year-old girl is making her life miserable. My Nat is being bullied. From a mamma's point of view,… Continue reading Bullying sucks

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This weekend Nat and I had an action packed weekend as we headed down to the city (Wellington for those of you who know NZ) to see a show. The show was The Sound of Music - I was super excited to introduce Nat to the story and the songs. I was about the same age… Continue reading Me and my girl

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By 9am this morning I had already seen my two littlest people with the biggest smiles on their faces. And I know that happy vibe that will stay with them today. Seeing them happy, that's a great way for me to start a day for sure! Natty Nat asked me if I could write her a list of… Continue reading Seeing my little people smile

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Daily Prompt: If money were out of the equation, would you still work? If yes, why, and how much? If not, what would you do with your free time? Well this is a prompt I can really relate to. In fact it is an ongoing discussion between my husband and I right now. To set the scene,… Continue reading Work? Optional!

I haven't been posting so much the last couple of weeks. I don't know what to say. Which is VERY unusual for me. It's not that I don't have anything to write, it's that there's just so much. I've mentioned before that I feel like I'm in a real transitory place - accepting a new… Continue reading WOULD THE REAL ME PLEASE STAND UP

Last week while I was folding washing after school I heard a crash from the kitchen. The crash followed by that momentary deafening silence, where you know that the culprit knows they have done something wrong. Then the panicked shouts and tears begin. So what was that crash? It was my daughter learning a lesson… Continue reading LEARNING LESSONS … THE EASY WAY

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"Mama is one-five-oh-oh-oh bigger than two-two-oh-oh-oh?" A seemingly random question thrown from the backseat of the car set my brain into action and I need a place to vent. So hello! What my daughter is asking is 'I've got 15,000 Kibble so can I 'buy' something that is 22,000 Kibble'. She's playing a Pet Shop game on her… Continue reading RANDOM RANT: GAMES NOT HELPING MATHS!

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Let's just get this said up front. I'm not writing this for brownie points. I mean everything I say (write). I have one very truly amazing husband. There are a lot of blog posts, and comments in general, about husbands who don't do enough around the house, husbands who don't spend enough time with kids… Continue reading MY MARVELOUS MR.

Those of you who know me, or who follow my blog, will know I have no problem stating things as I see them. I'm a pretty very open person and you'll pretty much always know where I stand on an issue. While blogging gives me time to think and articulate my thoughts (I've written about this before), when… Continue reading TO INSULATE OR EXPOSE TO THE WORLD?

The other night while Nat was having one of her meltdowns (for lack of a better word) I REALLY felt the need to reassure her of my love. I KNOW she knows how much I love her, I'm pretty sure I say and show it daily in different ways. But sometimes I feel like she's… Continue reading FOR MY CHILDREN

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This term our three youngest will be focusing on the Core Value of Integrity at school. I think it can be defined in a lot of different ways and am really looking forward to our teatime round-the-table discussions as we get further into their learning. I would like to think I am a person of integrity in… Continue reading INTEGRITY

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Last night we had another gut wrenching evening with Nat. It came from nowhere, they always do, these intense waves of emotion that rise from nothing and in a moment consume her so completely. As a mama, I feel like my heart literally cracks each time I see her like that - my baby in… Continue reading WATCHING HER HEALING HURT